Applying an emphatic design model to gain an understanding of consumers’ cognitive orientations and develop a product prototype
Abstract: Purpose:
Consideration of consumer opinion is a key success factor when it comes to
developing a new product. However, businesses may lack suitable methods for
this, and designers may lack practical training, with both situations meaning
that firms are unable to precisely adopt consumer opinions. Moreover, consumer
cognitions for a product are widely regarded as changeable and abstract. It is
worth studying how to determine consumers’ opinions and transform them into
references for prototype development. The purpose of this study is thus to
create an Empathic Design Model which would be able to determine consumer
cognitive orientation.
Design/methodology/approach: This model includes observing related
phenomena, laddering the cognition, connecting the elements of the Associations
Matrix, producing the hierarchy of the following four items, attributes,
functional consequences, psychosocial consequences and values, and then
producing a prototype to help designers and consumers reach a consensus on the
cognitive structure of products.
Findings: As demonstrated in a case study of the design of an “electronic
tour guide”, the authors developed a prototype that can help a guide to perform
their job on a group package tour. Consequently, the Empathic Design Model can
be operated and put into practice. By Mind Mapping, the prototype can be then
imitated and reinvented by designers as needed.
Originality/value: This model focuses on the early phase of the design
process, providing the designing industry with a technique to forecast
consumers’ potential needs and develop a prototype effectively.
Keywords: Empathic design,
consumer demand, cognitive structure, product prototypes, demand forecasting
Author: Ding-Bang Luh,
Chia-Hsiang Ma, Ming-Hsuan Hsieh, Cheng-Yong Huang
Journal Code: jptindustrigg120014
